Major currencies ended Friday much as they began, glued to narrow ranges as activity ground to a near standstill with European players on a public holiday and New York still affected by a massive power cut.
The single European currency fell to US$1.1246 from US$1.1273 late on Thursday in New York.
The euro had risen to as high as US$1.1328 overnight on news of the power woes in the US northeast and southern Canada.
The dollar traded at ¥119.24 from ¥119.15 on Thursday.
Amid the exceptional conditions, a raft of US data went by almost without notice.
"It is all very quiet, what with the European holiday and the power outage," said Barclays Capital analyst Jane Foley.
"We weren't short of data to react to but there just weren't enough players in the market," she added.
After the lights went out in the US and Canada late Thurs-day, the dollar went down amid fears of further terrorist attacks, but the US unit later stabilized.
"In the US, yesterday's power outage generated only a short-lived market reaction, with a brief sell-off in the dollar and safe-haven trades boosting bonds," said Audrey Childe-Freeman, economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
"With the terrorist scenario ruled out, it is very much back to square one in terms of market sentiment," though liquidity was low because several European countries were enjoying a public holiday.
Much of Friday's US data came in as expected -- with sturdy industrial production growth in July tempered by a sharp fall in manufacturing activity in New York State.
Meanwhile, US inflation rose for the second straight month in July.
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey was postponed to Tuesday.
There was also little action elsewhere.
The pound could not make ground on the euro despite Britain's relative economic health. So far, British economic data have consistently eclipsed the dismal performances in the euro zone's major economies.
The coming week is expected to show France joining Italy, Germany and the Netherlands in recession.
Next week's British retail sales for July is expected to see a retracement from June's hefty rise but any upside surprise will help the pound, analysts said.
"That might be the trigger sterling needs," said Foley.
The euro was changing hands at US$1.1246 from US$1.1273 late on Thursday in New York, ¥134.12 (¥133.95), £0.7059 (£0.7026) and 1.5431 Swiss francs (Sf1.5430).
The dollar was being quoted at ¥119.24 (¥119.15) and 1.3718 Swiss francs (Sf1.3687).
The pound was at US$1.5934 (US$1.6025), ¥190.04 (¥190.94) and 2.1864 Swiss francs (Sf2.1935).
On the London Bullion Market, the price of an ounce of gold stood at US$364.5 from US$363.60 on Thursday afternoon.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure